Britain’s Most Tattooed Man Faces Surprising Obstacle at Everyday Checkpoint

Have you ever stopped to wonder what might happen if your face was a work of art—so much ink and color that even a robot would do a double-take? Well, Matthew Whelan, who prefers the moniker King of Ink Land, doesn’t need to wonder—he lives it every day . Being the UK’s most tattooed man (seriously, he says more than 90% of his skin is covered), you’d think he’d already faced every curveball society could pitch his way . But, surprise! Apparently, his quest for digital access is now stumped, not by a judgmental HR manager, but by AI facial recognition, which can’t seem to recognize that art is, in fact, actually his face . It’s a wild and weird twist: the more creative our bodies, the more confused our technology . Who knew that bold self-expression could literally lock you out of certain corners of the internet? Talk about a twenty-first-century identity crisis . Intrigued about how ink and algorithms collided in the most unexpected way? LEARN MORE.

We all know tattoos are permanent and can cause issues for some narrow-minded employers, but one man has had an unexpected issue thanks to his facial inkings.

Going by the name of King of Ink Land (but legally known as Matthew Whelan), the 45-year-old is the UK’s most tattooed man.

He’s understandably used to getting a lot of attention, particularly for the tattoos, which cover his entire face.

Whelan claims that 90% of his body is covered in ink, and estimates that he has more than 300 tattoos.

He has previously run into trouble at work, saying one employer ‘hid’ him thanks to his choice of body modifications.

Now, King Of Ink Land, who hails from Birmingham, has found another problem thanks to his face tatts.

He has been rejected by facial recognition services, and is in a bit of a pickle as he can no longer access certain websites.

Dubbed the King Of Ink Land, he has experienced problems thanks to his face tattoos (Instagram/kingofinklandkingbodyart)

After spending more than 1,600 hours under the needle, he says the new government legislation is causing problems for him.

Last Friday, July 25, the Online Safety Act began in the UK.

The new legislation requires explicit websites – whether that’s pornography or violence – to request age verification checks in order to prevent underage users from accessing them.

Websites such as Pornhub, YouPorn, RedTube and LiveHDCams have all signed up to the legislation.

Whelan was trying to access a webcam site, when he was asked to verify his identity.

He looked very different before the tattoos, and says verification systems no longer recognise his face (Instagram/kingofinklandkingbodyart)

One of the methods of verification involves uploading details of a credit card, and a selfie which matches one form of ID.

Unfortunately, the system could not recognise him because of all of the tattoos.

“It keeps asking me to remove my face,” he told Need To Know.

“I can’t just do a Nicholas Cage or John Travolta like in Face/Off,” he quipped.

“All this proves is that technology and AI are discriminatory and not set up for people with facial tattoos,” he said.

“I feel like I’m being punished for being me,” he added.

He has spent more than 1,600 hours under the tattoo needle (Instagram/kingofinklandkingbodyart)

“No matter how different or alternative you look, there is no place for discrimination – especially from technology.”

This isn’t the first time this has happened to the King Of Ink Land either, saying he has previously failed ID checks due to his name and ink.

“I’m used to having my ID declined sometimes because of my legal name and tattoos.

“But constantly asking me to remove my ‘mask’ is frustrating.

“This is who I am; Why is it trying to change me?”

He says he is now considering turning to a VPN so that he can bypass the checks.

Other users have used pictures of super-realistic video game characters to fool the system.